Hi there,
As a newbie I am trying to keep up with the organization as I can see my collection of digital scrapstuffs growing already.... I have been poking around and see that everyone has their own way of organizing. My organization method is slowly evolving as I kind of figure out how I search for things. I have been using Zoner (free) and find that it works great for me, as a visual person.

The main problem that I see keeping track of designers. (I am actually really glad that I found sites like this early because I NEVER would have been able to credit anyone for anything if I just organized things the way I would instinctually.) I am sure that as I do more I will find certain designers that I like or certain ones that I can even recognize. But I am much more of a visual person and I search for things based on color or holiday or event or whatever and will mix and match papers and elements from different designers.

I am wondering if anyone has any tips on how to keep track of designers, if you do not organize them that way?? Also, I am finding that there is a lot of crossover and "blog train" type of stuff and I have no idea who to credit if I get a freebie that comes from one blog but is from the kit from another??

As a newbie, I am in the "collecting" stage. Last night, I followed a couple of "blog trains" and downloaded a bunch of stuff. This morning I went to organize them and file names like "BLD_YHHAO_paper1" or "TCI_jc_DbR.png" or "YBR_Freebie" mean nothing to me. Do you rename individual element files? That seems like it would take a LOT of time. It takes enough just to get them tagged in zoner, I can't imagine renaming everything. But I suppose if that is just the habit I get into, it would be doable?? Maybe??

Sorry for the longwinded questions, but I am at the place where I am not even sure what or how to ask!!

Personally, I very, very rarely rename any files. I seldom do blog trains anymore since I prefer to have a full kit, but I've been scrapping for a while now. I have a folder for each designer and then I add the stores they sell at to the folder name (with just an abbreviation to keep the title short). I keep all of the alphas, ellies, and papers for each kit in a folder with the kits' name. Does that make sense? I use to have separate folders for themes, such as Christmas, Halloween, Spring, etc., but that was before I got to know more of the designers and their work. You should do whatever works for you! Personally, I wouldn't recommend splitting up a kit or renaming files---it's just too much work! and you may regret it later. As far as making sure to credit each designer, I always have paper at my desk where I jot down notes of who made the products I'm using to give proper credit---even if it is a freebie! I hope that helps!

Thanks for your response! I'm actually really glad that I poked around so much before doing much organizing, or I totally would have split everything up. (I thought I was procrastinating, but clearly I was doing important recon stuff!) But I think having a program where I can tag things multiple ways is the best for me. That way I can keep kits together, but still be able to search for stuff visually.

I think it is mostly those random pieces that throw me. And being new to all this, I don't really know many of the designers, so it is really tough for me to keep any of that straight, never mind find anything that way! But it does make it so much easier to figure out who to credit!

When a bunch of scrapbooking bloggers/designers get together, they often coordinate and release a freebie or mini kit or something on the same day. If you go to one designer, they will tell you the next "stop" on the blog train and it will lead you to another designer's website where they have a freebie and so on and so on. They call them blog trains.